2010 Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series season

The 2010 F1RWRS season was the inaugural season of the F1RWRS. It consisted of 9 races, starting with the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring and ending with the Australian Grand Prix at Eastern Creek Raceway. The Drivers' Champion was Gary Cameron, driving for Team Calinetic, despite not winning a race all year. Prospec won the Constructors' Championship.

The points system was 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the top 10 finishers.

Contents

Season Review

The first season of the F1RWRS was met with great anticipation from everyone involved. Though the FIA had predicted that the Zimmers' breakaway series would fall apart, the series was already gaining international coverage, especially in Australia. Tickets for the first round in Germany were already sold out as crowds flocked to see the big names that had already moved into the series. But in terms of judging overall competitiveness, most of the racing world was completely in the dark. The two big draws, four-time champion Daniel Melrose and British veteran Sammy Jones were mentioned often in the media while others looked at the series' founder and ex-Brawn driver Frank Zimmer, Ferrari driver Phoenix McAllister and ex-Toro Rosso driver Thomas De Bock as possible championship aspirants. The F1RWRS descended on the Hockenheimring on the 21st of April in preparation for the inaugural round of the series.

The German Grand Prix was a hotly contested affair. The entire field was separated by just two seconds in qualifying, a trend that would continue throughout the season. Dave Simpson took the first pole in series history but Ashley Watkinson came across the line first to win for CR Motorsport. Because of the odd points system which rewarded consistency over outright speed, Watkinson was unable to build much of lead. Simon Redman joined the Kahama team for the Luxembourg GP at the Nürburgring to bring the grid up to a full contingent of 19 cars. Dave Simpson continued his good form by winning the race by just 1.88 seconds over Luca Pacchiarini. The final German race on the calendar, the Saxon Grand Prix was won by American Dan BH. His win would be the first and only win by an American driver in the entire history of the series. With six rounds to go, Gary Cameron took the championship lead for Calinetic, ahead of the likes of Watkinson, Jones and Zimmer. The series then moved across the world to China where Dave Simpson became the first driver to win two races in the series but a third placed finish from Zimmer put him in the championship the lead.

The first of two rounds in Australia took place at Adelaide but the four Australian drivers in the field were denied victory by Hungarian David Koczo in the Prospec. The championship tussle got ever hotter in Bahrain where Koczo took his second consecutive victory, becoming the first driver in F1RWRS history to take two wins on the trot. Cameron regained the lead by one points over Koczo, BH and Frank Zimmer. The Belgian Grand Prix at Spa gave Simpson his third victory of the season but his inconsistency left him only in fifth in the standings.

Nine drivers entered the next round in Great Britain with a mathematical chance at the title. The winner, Nathanael Spencer, kept himself in the title hunt with Koczo and Cameron as the other drivers still in the running. Cameron had a nine point lead in the championship going into the final round at Eastern Creek by finishing in second, despite not winning a race all season. Spencer's first career victory also left Prospec in a commanding position in the Constructors' Championship. It was also the first race of Former F1 legend Chris Dagnall, filling in for Daniel Melrose in JLD when the Australian decided to focus solely on Formula One for the second half of 2010 before moving to the F1RWRS permanently in 2011. Dagnall took pole for the event at Eastern Creek but in the end, it was Frank Zimmer who emerged victorious in front of his compatriots. This was inconsequential to Cameron, however, who won the first ever F1RWRS Drivers' Title by finishing in tenth. Dan BH took second place in the race, bringing him to third in the championship behind Frank Zimmer.

Despite many doubting the viability of the series, the first season of the F1RWRS proved to be an enormous success and helped launch the careers of several drivers including Cameron, Koczo and Spencer. At the end of the year, the F1RWRS Commission decided to change the points system for 2011 and beyond, which shifted the balance back to race wins over the sort of consistency which gave Cameron the title.

1 Kahama only entered one car for the first race before hiring Redman as their second driver

2 Melrose was declared unfit to race at Spa Francorchamps due to dental surgery. He was then replaced by former F1 World Champion Dagnall for the final 2 races when Melrose later decided to focus solely on winning a fifth F1 World Championship instead.

Points system

For the 2010 season, championship points were awarded for finishing positions down to 10th place, in a uniform manner with each place lower receiving one point less. Both drivers' scores for each team contributed to the team's overall total.